can we get our attention back?
anti-brain rot manual & rituals that can bring your attention back
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After three weeks in Japan, I felt what a true break from screens could do: for my mind, for my focus, for feeling grounded. Days were spent walking through quiet temples, sitting on trains watching the countryside pass by, or lingering in cafés with no need to open a laptop. The constant pull of notifications was gone. I didn’t feel the twitch to check my phone every few minutes. My brain had space again. But back at my desk, staring at a screen for eight-plus hours a day, I noticed the shift almost immediately: my mind wasn’t holding attention like before. Reading felt harder. Even writing felt fragmented. And I’ve noticed I’m not the only one.
Across social media, people are sharing how their attention spans feel less sharp than ever before. More of us are admitting to that scattered, restless feeling, the inability to finish a book, the habit of scrolling mid-conversation, or the frustration of bouncing between ten tabs without completing a single task. What used to feel like focus now feels like a luxury.
There’s even a name for it. Oxford’s Word of the Year 2024 was “brain rot,” a term that perfectly captures the sense of dullness after endless scrolling. It describes the mental fog that sets in after consuming too much trivial digital content: memes, videos, clickbait, hot takes, the kind of input that doesn’t really nourish us but still demands our attention.
And it’s not just cultural slang. Studies have explored how heavy social media use is linked to shrinking working memory, impaired cognitive control, and even rewired brain pathways. In other words, the more we scroll, the more we literally train our brains to expect and crave rapid-fire bursts of novelty. The cost is our ability to sit with slowness, to hold a thought in our head, or to sustain deep concentration on a single task. 12
Short-form videos seem especially potent here. Research shows they damage our ability to remember intentions and switch contexts, leaving us more scattered. A ten-second clip here, a punchline there, a swipe to the next one: it creates a kind of fragmented rhythm that makes ordinary life feel too slow, too quiet. Suddenly, even watching a movie can feel like a test of patience.
But here’s the part that gives me hope: these effects are reversible. I’ve found that reintroducing offline habits like reading and journaling helps with a mental reset. Picking up a book and committing to even twenty minutes without checking my phone feels like a small victory. Writing longhand in a notebook slows my thoughts down in the best way, giving them room to stretch instead of rushing to the next distraction.
I’ve also started collecting thoughtful alternatives: articles, books, films, podcasts, content that feels like it’s worth lingering on rather than rushing through. There’s something grounding about deliberately choosing what to consume instead of letting the algorithm feed you. It feels like reclaiming my own taste, my own curiosity.
This isn’t about rejecting the internet completely. Social media has given me friendships, ideas, and opportunities I wouldn’t trade for anything. But I’m learning to be more intentional with my time.
So this post is a collection of small rituals and mindful habits that are helping me reclaim focus, restore joy in deep thinking, and slowly rebuild my attention span. It’s not about going backward or living in some nostalgic, pre-digital world. It’s about finding balance, about proving to myself that my brain is still capable of deep focus and presence, even in the age of “brain rot.”
This post is part 1 of my upgrade diaries, a monthly series where I share tips, habits and resources to help you elevate your life.
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A breakdown of my tips that have helped me rebuild my attention span
5 articles you should read this week
List of helpful apps to help you get your attention span back
Access to my full archive of previous pay-walled content.
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